The tiny island nation is jubilant after high level government resources, none other than Sri Lankan president himself confirmed that LTTE supremo Prabhakaran is dead. There are celebrations, firecrackers bursting on the streets of Colombo marking the end 33 years of strife.
The route to victory has not been easy though. LTTE is a strong and committed organization fighting for the rights of native Tamil population who experience discrimination in every walk of life since 1950s. LTTE had faught valiantly the three wars prior to this. The last one had turned uglier than they could have imagined. Rajapakse and his brother broke all rules of conventional warfare by targeting civilians. They managed to crush the LTTE organization but in the bargain they have created a monsterous humanitarian crisis. More than 200,000 Tamil civilians have been rendered homeless and a vast chunk reportedly confined to so called relief camps which are nothing short of concentration camp.
Western Governments’ diplomacy hasn’t cut much ice with Rajapakse and Co. The war continued till its logical conclusion of war with complete disregard to collateral.
NATO forces have also been stationed in Middle East and AFPAK but have not been as ruthless as Sri Lankan army. Care is taken to prevent civilian casualties otherwise you begin to lose the war in media. Sri Lanka didn’t have to worry about print and electronic media reporting the crimes committed on ethnic Tamils as many Journalists have been killed or been coerced into silence.
Back home we too face insurgency in North-East and Kashmir. If the world keeps quiet on Sri Lanka I will interpret it as giving a tacit nod that yes nations facing insurgency or domestic squabbles can follow this route. What do we do then? Roll tanks and use precision guided bombs and heavy artillery shells in the heart of Srinagar and Kohima? In fact the way we have handled militancy is praise worthy. Our stand has been vetted by none other than the Taliban themselves who have begun to face the heat of full fledged Pakistani assault on their strongholds in Swat and Buner rendering half a million Paksitanis homeless in their own country. The Taliban points out that “at least Indian govt. doesn’t use heavy artilleries and aerial bombing on its people”
Coming back to the Sri Lankan Tamil issue. Death of Prabhakaran may not have long term strategic relief for Colombo. If they do not engage the ethnic Tamils in a dialogue and give them equal opportunities now, there lies a valid fear of revival of LTTE. Finding cult personality heads to lead the war against oppresors isn’t difficult when you see misery all around and hopeless future. A sectarian leader and a miserable populace feed each other’s requirement. This is kind of a cycle which is eternal and repeats itself.
